Mission Stories

Title: Escort the villagers to safety!
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Yoshi Aoki, Ryouichi Aoki,
Pairing: N/A
Ratings: K+
Warnings: N/A
Author Notes: And another set for arc 2 :v

Yoshi and Ryouichi, along with the boy they helped earlier, were busy running around. People were running in every which direction though could, scared out of their minds as the fire spread. Yoshi helped some of the villagers by getting them to safety, while his brother was trying to get help to put out the fires. Yoshi had saved a couple more people from some of the flaming debris and even fled out of a burning building. The kid he found was still trailing after him, still not seeing his mother or anyone that looked familiar. Yoshi walked towards his brother, feeling a little out of breath.

"All right, I think I got as much people as I could out of that house." He said.

"You'd think it'd be easy to find someone that can use water jutsu." His brother groaned, holding up his empty bucket.

"Well, everyone's in a panic at the moment." Yoshi said. "You can't expect everyone to suddenly stop and think about what's going on. Most of the people here are kids after all."

"Yeah I know." Ryouichi nodded.

The brothers were about to start speaking again when there was a loud scream. Yoshi's head pivoted in its direction as soon as he heard it. His light colored eyes roaming the area for whoever it might have been. He saw a women standing outside her home. Her husband, or so Yoshi presumed, was holding her up as she cried into her hands. Yoshi looked at the home and just ran towards her. Ryouichi reached out towards his brother but sighed instead. He took the little boy's hand and sped off after his brother. Yoshi slowed down his pace as he reached the couple.

"What happened?" He asked. The woman couldn't form any words or made much sense. The man cleared his throat as he looked at Yoshi.

"Our daughter's in there and we can't get to her." He said, looking as sad and panicked as his wife was being.

"Don't worry, I'll get her." Yoshi said and darted into the burning house.

"Yoshi wait!" Ryouichi called out but his brother was already inside.

Yoshi looked around the inside of the house. The smoke and intensity of the fire were making it hard for him to breathe or see. He squinted his eyes and covered his mouth with his kimono sleeve. He could hear someone crying for help but wasn't sure where they were. So he followed the sounds of the coughing and crying, trying to weave his way into the burning home. He managed to move past a few doorways, which crashed behind him, and managed to get towards the bedrooms. He coughed as he looked around and was really glad he was wearing sandals for once. Normally, he'd detest it but not having his feet burning with each step was a plus.

He heard someone coughing for a bit and approached a closed door. He decided against using the handle of the door and just back up a few paces. He sped towards the door and put all his weight into his shoulder to crack it down. It took a couple of attempts but he eventually broke down the door and stumbled into the room. He coughed from the smoke he breathed in but looked around for the little girl who was hiding. He could see her as she crept over her bed to see who entered. She immediately ducked down as soon as Yoshi saw her.

"Hey, I'm here to get you out of here." He said, coughing. "Your parents are really worried about you."

The girl, either being too scared to be in the burning house by herself or hearing some of what Yoshi had said, got to her feet and ran towards him. Yoshi picked her up and held her with an arm before turning to figure a way out of the house. He couldn't go the way he entered so he quickly made his way towards another part of the house. He saw an open window and helped the girl through it. He quickly pulled himself out and rolled onto the ground. He landed hard on his side but wasn't too hurt. He got to his feet and looked at the girl. He looked her over to see if she was hurt or damaged, though he didn't see anything besides soot from the smoke.

"Let's go see your parents, yeah?" Yoshi said, smiling at the girl as he picked her up.

The girl just clung to Yoshi's haori, wrapping one arm over his shoulder for support. She wasn't crying, but she was clutching to a doll of the Akarikage. The likeness was a little crude but it did look like him. He guessed her parents got the doll for her during the festival. He walked around the outside of the house, making his way towards the front of it. He could see his brother's curly, reddish-brown hair as he turned towards the front of the house. Before Yoshi could say anything the girl called for her parents, a smile spreading across her face. He put her down and watched as she ran towards the worried pair. He rejoined his brother, greeted with a hug and a very worried and scolding look.

"I'm fine, Ryu." Yoshi smiled.

"You need to be more careful." He scolded. "You could've been hurt."

"Ryu..." Yoshi paused as he looked at the boy hiding behind his brother. "Let's talk about this later, for now we need to help these people."

"Thank you for rescuing my daughter!" The woman said, hugging Yoshi almost as soon as Ryouichi pulled away from him.

"You're very welcome, ma'am." He said. She pulled away from Yoshi and hugged her husband. The man smiled and nodded at Yoshi, he just smiled back. Yoshi could help but feel happy that the girl was all right and her parents had one less thing to worry about.

"You guys should probably get out of here." Yoshi said. "With all that's going on, I'm sure the Akarikage has sent some medical help to anyone who needs it. I'm sure they have a safe place for people to stay until all this is resolved."

"Thank you again." The mother smiled. Yoshi just smiled and nodded at her. The girl walked towards Yoshi and he kneeled down to see what she what she needed. She simply hugged him with all the strength she had.

"Thank you!" She giggled.

"You're welcome." Yoshi replied and ruffled her hair. "You were very brave back there! I'm sure your parents are really proud of you!" The girl looked back at her parents and then at Yoshi. She held up her doll of the Akarikage towards him.

"My parents got this for me but I want to give it to you!" She smiled. "Momma says that people who do good things should be rewarded!"

"Are you sure?" He asked her, feeling a little moved by the sentiment. She nodded her head as she smiled. Yoshi took it and took out a lantern hair pin from one of his pockets.

"I won this from one of the games I was playing with my brother." He explained as he put the pin in her hair. "I think people who are brave deserve rewards too!"

"Thank you, mister!" The girl squealed as she hugged Yoshi again. He patted her back and watched as she ran off to her parents. They said thank you again before Yoshi told them where they could go to look for help. He looked at his brother, the doll of the Akarikage still in his hands.

"Let's get going." Yoshi said. "We still need to find this guy's mother."

Yoshi picked up the boy and hoisted him on his shoulders. The boy laughed as he held onto Yoshi's head, looking at the area around them. Yoshi, holding the boy's legs, jogged around; trying to make the boy laugh again. Ryouichi watched his brother and couldn't help but feel proud. Pride in the fact that his brother, for whatever little power he claimed to not possess, was always able to see the brighter side of things. He shook his head and ran after Yoshi. He was upset that he ran into the house without saying anything but that was a conversation for another time. Now, they needed to try and find that boy's mother.